


Mad Prince Rulf: Marriage

by sglottalk



Series: Crown Prince Rulf [10]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Coming Out, F/M, Grey-A, Post-Canon, Recreational Drug Use, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 08:30:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6147736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sglottalk/pseuds/sglottalk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gregor and Laisa are very concerned about their eldest son's marriage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Adrienne Vorrutyer, fully clothed, sprawled on the bed as she delighted in the sensation of flames burning beneath her skin. Crown Prince Rulf was sitting in a chair nearby, and was also sniffing Gorgon's Fire.

"This is a really good batch," Adrienne commented.

"Mmmm," said Rulf.

"I still can't believe you're married now," Adrienne said. "And to _Serena Vordarian_. She is not your type at all."

"And who is my type?" asked Rulf.

"I am," said Adrienne. "We have the same pastimes, at least."

"You do not spend nearly as much time fucking with people as I do," Rulf said.

"Oh, I fuck a lot more people than you do," Adrienne replied. "Especially since you took that ridiculous vow of abstinence. Which, by the way, I do not believe you actually kept, even though you did not break that vow with _me_. Whatever you were smoking back then, it must have been strong stuff. I _almost_ wish you would share it with me, but I do not quite want to lose my mind that way."

"That is a _different_ kind of fucking," Rulf said. "Also, I do not fall in love left and right like you do."

"I do _not_ fall in love with people left and right," Adrienne protested. "I've only fallen in love _once_ this year."

"Lord Zach?" Rulf asked.

"He is so fierce and manly, yet when he relaxes he has the _sweetest_ smile." Adrienne grinned, and then sighed. "Only a girl with a heart of stone could _not_ fall in love with him. Or a lesbian, like Lady Helen."

"Serena couldn't care less about him."

"Rulf, I'm afraid your wife is a bit, dare I say, _frigid_."

"Am I frigid too?" Rulf asked.

"You are a down-right cold-hearted bastard!" Adrienne. She promptly giggled. "I gave my heart to _you_ once, and you broke it. But I forgive you. You are much better as a friend with benefits than as a lover."

"Of course I'm a terrible lover. I've never been in love."

"Nonsense, everybody falls in love," Adrienne said. "You're just too proud to admit it." Adrienne inhaled some more Gorgon's Fire. "You should have treated Maya Vorob'yev better."

"It's not my fault that I did not feel that way about her," Rulf said.

"Well maybe if you hadn't used her to bait your father - and you hadn't been so quick to dump her - you would have developed the proper feelings for her. I was so sure when I matched you with her that she could bring out your romantic side. I was most disappointed that you didn't really _try_."

"Why are you thinking about Maya Vorob'yev when you could be thinking about _Loooord Zaaaaach_...?"

"Zach Zach Zach!" Adrienne squealed. She writhed on the bed and purred like a kitten, until Rulf burst into laughter. Adrienne then snapped out of her reverie, and threw a pillow at Rulf's face.

Something about the way Adrienne turned on the bed aroused Rulf. It has been at least two years since he had felt any sexual attraction towards Adrienne - and to be honest, all of the occasions when he had been genuinely attracted to her could be counted on one hand - but right now he felt it.

Rulf approached the bed. "Do you think I am the monogamous type?" Rulf asked.

"Absolutely not!" said Adrienne.

"You're right," said Rulf. He leaned over Adrienne. "Would you a personal demonstration of just how right you are?"

***

"I don't know a good way to say this," Laisa said. "But you should know."

Crown Princess Serena sat there patiently.

"Rulf and Adrienne had a relationship before you marriage, and last night, when Adrienne visited, they ... they seem to be carrying on, ah..."

"Please stop," Serena asked softly. "I don't want to know about Rulf's -" Serena's cheeks flushed pink "- sex life."

"But you're his wife!" said Laisa.

"May I leave now?" Serena asked timidly.

Laisa decided that maybe it would be good to talk to Gregor before continuing any further with Serena. "Of course."

***

"It's as if they aren't even married!" said Laisa. "I thought at first they just were awkward around each other, but things have gone too far! They don't share a bedroom! They don't touch each other! They never say 'I love you' or do anything romantic whatsoever! And it is amazingly bad taste to have an affair when you've only been married for two months and you _don't even try to kiss your own wife_..."

"I don't understand them either," said Gregor. "We should talk to them."

***

Gregor and Laisa were drinking tea with Rulf and Serena.

"We are a little concerned about your relationship," Laisa said.

"You want us to have a son already?" Rulf asked.

"No, there is no need to rush that," said Gregor.

"Then I don't see how it is your business," said Rulf. "You may Request and Require that we make an heir, or rather a _spare_ , but you can't reasonably demand anything else from our relationship."

"Rulf, don't be ridiculous," said Laisa. "There is hardly a relationship between you two."

"We're married, aren't we?" said Rulf.

"You have not consummated your marriage," said Gregor.

"Father, are you Requesting and Requiring that I rape my wife?" asked Rulf. "Like Grandpa Serg and Grandma Kareen?"

Gregor's spine abruptly stiffened, and he put down the teacup with great force and pursed his lips. "Rulf," he said quietly yet intensely, "do not talk like that."

"I have always been in favor of respecting Serena's bodily autonomy," said Rulf with a smirk on his face. "You are the one suggesting that I should fuck her when I know she would not consent."

"Rulf, how dare you talk like this _in front of Serena_!" said Laisa. "Can't you consider her feelings?"

Serena's face was blank. "Rulf is a troll," Serena said in a very soft voice. "I do not feed him."

"Serena," asked Gregor, "are you saying that you are reluctant to become ... intimate with Rulf?"

Serena made no response.

Laisa, exasperated, turned her attention back towards Rulf. "Did you get married just to make a mockery of marriage!"

"Why not?" said Rulf.

"Marriage can be a wonderful gift, and I say this to your as your mother, I cannot let you throw this gift away! If you don't love Serena, you should have waited for a girl you would love. Your father and I waited a long time to get married because we both wanted to marry the _right_ person. We would have been patient with you."

"If this is your 'patience', then I wish you would be _very impatient_ ," Rulf retorted, tongue-in-cheek style.

"There is never going to be that kind of girl for Rulf," Serena said very quietly. "He's aromantic."

This put whatever spirited response Laisa was going to make to Rulf to a screeching halt.

"Aromantic?" Gregor asked.

"I don't fall in love," said Rulf. "And Serena's aromantic too."

"Rulf," said Laisa. "We know you've been with Adrienne, and other girls..."

"Aromantic, not asexual," said Rulf. "In fact, I'm greysexual."

"Are these words you made up?" asked Gregor.

"No," said Rulf. "Haven't you been to Vervain, father?"

"I don't see what Vervain has to do with any of this," said Laisa. "Rulf, if you feel insecure about your sexuality, we could arrange counselling for you. It was wrong of you to drag Serena into this..."

"You are the one who is dragging Serena into this!" Rulf exclaimed. "I'm the one who is letting her be!"

Gregor and Laisa went silent.

"You think she's broken, don't you? You pity the poor girl who won't fall in love."

Gregor and Laisa could tell there was something very wrong with Rulf reacting this way.

"I know you two are fucking in love with each other! Great!" Rulf looked into Gregor's eyes. "I know you hate being fucking emperor, and that mother is the fucking drug you use to cope! Fine! I don't care that you're addicted to lovey-doviness! I don't care that Adrienne is addicted to lovey-doviness! But when _I_ choose my own drugs, which work for _me_ , you all turn into fucking hypocrites!"

Gregor then realized what was wrong with Rulf's reaction. Rulf was _angry_. Gregor had not seen Rulf get angry in ... Gregor could not recall a single instance that Rulf had gotten angry in the _past ten years_.

"Fuck, I fucking HATE FEELING LIKE THIS!" Rulf screamed. He whipped out a hypospray from his jacket, and before Gregor or Laisa could intervene, Rulf had already administered it to himself.

Rulf flopped back down on the sofa. The anger drained out of his face, replaced by a slightly vacant expression.

"Rulf?" Laisa asked. "What did you just take?"

"Fast-penta," Rulf answered.


	2. Chapter 2

"Why did you just take fast-penta?" Laisa asked.

"Because I don't want to be angry," Rulf replied. "Fast-penta is not ideal, but it's what I have on hand which takes effect in less than ten minutes."

Gregor and Laisa both felt a chill.

"You use fast-penta," Gregor said "just to change your feelings."

"Anger is pointless," Rulf replied. "So is angst." Rulf pointed at the drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. "Even this is better."

"Is this how you got started with your ... drugs?" Gregor asked. "To control anger?"

"No," Rulf replied. "I started because I was an idiot who thought I needed the sexual enhancers."

Yes, Gregor and Laisa had watched with apprehension as their eldest had entered puberty. They had been concerned when he started taking sexual-enhancement drugs at _sixteen_ , but those drugs were known as being relatively benign, and it was not unusual for teenagers on planets such as Beta Colony, or even Komarr, to use them.

"Didn't work, since my problem was not performance. There had been a few times when I really wanted to get laid, but I never understood why Michael or Charles were so desperate for it all the time.

"And then I tried the drugs. And I figured out, I don't need drugs to make myself want to get laid to make myself happy. Much simpler to just find drugs to make me happy, or at least stop myself from becoming some kind of emo boy. There's a really art to it, finding all the chemicals which give all of the right sensations. Sometimes adding a little pain helps. Sometimes it's not best to try to feel pleasure at all, just to float, float away...

"I was still an idiot, so I kept getting laid. I had some delusion that drugs and sex were better than just drugs. Didn't trust my own feelings. There were always those few times when I really did want it, so I thought if I kept doing it, I'd feel that way more often. And the people I got high with all expected it of me. I tried dating. I tried doing it with boys. Then I wondered, maybe I was a bit like grandpa Serg that way? Maybe that's why I found it so hard to desire ordinary sex? So I tried that little experiment with Maya Vorob'yev. I'm sure you remember that."

Gregor and Laisa most certainly did remember that. Serena looked like she was about to cover her ears.

"That was tedious. It was a relief when you brought me in for questioning at ImpSec - it was much more interesting than staying with Maya. But I got lucky with Maya another way. The first time I was with her, it was so boring. So the second time, I used some fast-penta so that I could be with her without feeling irritated. She didn't like hearing that I did not enjoy taking her to bed one bit, nor that I was never going to love her. I told her lots and lots of details. But she was still in love with me - makes no sense to me why, but I never understood the point of romance - so she was happy to try that little play-acting to see if I could ever _want_ her that way.

"About a week after that ImpSec interrogation, she came to me again telling me that I was probably greysexual - someone who isn't entirely asexual, but is not as inclined to swive as most people. And that since I could never recall having a crush, I was also probably aromantic. Apparently that's really common on Vervain, something about their atmosphere. She said I should go to Vervain, be in a place where people like me are normal. I laughed her off, but the idea stuck with me. So I decided to try not having sex for a year. And it worked great. It became clear to me that getting laid is something I rarely want, and that it was stupid to keep doing it to make myself happy when it wasn't working that way. It is very liberating to stop having sex you don't want."

"But what about ..." said Laisa very slowly, not sure whether a good mother should ask her son anything while he was under fast-penta "... was you just did with Adrienne?"

"She was there, I felt like it. I do feel like it, oh, three or four times a year. Serena and I have agreed that we are never going to bed with each other, so if I'm ever going to get laid, it has to be with someone else."

Gregor and Laisa both looked at Serena.

"I gave him permission," Serena said in a very small voice. "That he could do it with someone else."

"Serena is not just asexual, she never, ever wants to do it. She doesn't even want to touch people," Rulf volunteered. "I think that's wonderful, I don't think I could stand a wife who expected me to put out. When she was-"

"STOP!!!! Don't say anything about me!" Serena exclaimed. She was panicked. Gregor and Laisa had never seen her ever express such intense emotion before.

"Yes, I think that is enough. Please stop talking, Rulf," Gregor said.

Rulf had a silly, fast-penta induced grin on his face. Drool fell into his lap.

Gregor asked ImpSec bring the fast-penta antagonist. After Rulf and Serena had left the room, Gregor and Laisa spent ten whole minutes staring at each other. They had never imagined that this had been going on in their son's life.


End file.
